by J E Worthen

Biblical History

There has been in recent times so much confusion over how Christianity evolved not only after Christ died on the cross, but the fact that Jesus WAS a Jew and Christianity was a spring-off of Judaism to reach the gentiles. I guess what used to upset me so much when we hear all the things derived from not only cults but the radicals, that still exist and white supremacists, all hating the Jew, and Jews too, who equate us evangelicals with Catholics – Wrong. They have no idea of what they are talking about. Anymore than Black churches that professed Jesus to be Black. He was a Jew, a Rabbi (Matthew 23:7, John 1:38-50) Rabbi meaning “my master”. Now, too, with all our terrorist extremists, they too do not know their archaeological and historical dates.

This is just a brief overview. There is no way I could put all history on this blog, if I had it. But, the overview I can provide. Ancient Civilization has always fascinated me as well as history even in college. I remember getting an A- in my mid-terms on Ancient Civ, and I was ecstatic. Now, that I am a Christian, I became more interested in it as well as the new findings with archaeology that bears out the Bible and the Jewish Torah, the Q-ran, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.

For Catholics, please note that Constantine’s conversion didn’t take place til 312AD.=, nor did the Catholic church really begin and have its’ first pope with Gregory I until 590 AD, and the Baptist’s not until 1609. So let me begin with all these dates in history. The dates after this pertain to Palestinian history BC and AD. Furthermore, the Roman soldiers, were brutal and bloody when Jesus was hung from the Cross, and so they were during the Crusades. But EARLY Christianity derived from the followers and disciples, especially Apostle Paul (a Jew, as they all were), when he traveled and then preached to the gentiles. See how wrong many have it? Catholics too, I may add are not scripturally educated at all, especially the Old Testament which they have no knowledge of at all! Many I believe do not even know Jesus was a Jew. We who are Evangelicals, always say, we owe a debt to the Jew for our Bible and our salvation, which until Jesus died on the CROSS for the sins of mankind, was a Covenent of guaranteed salvation, now, we as Gentiles have.

The Age of Early Christianity
4-5 AD Unclear as to the death of Jesus. Though he died several years prior to Herod who died after reigning 37 years. Jesus birth of Dec. 25th, 5 BC? And arose not until the 4th Century. 4 Beginning of Jewish passover., 64 The fire in Rome, 70 Titus destroys Jerusalem, c150 Justin Martyr’s Apology, c156 Martyrdom of Polycarp, 177 Irenaeus becomes bishop of Lynons, 196 Tertulian begins writing c205 Origen begins writing c251 Cyprian on the “unity of the church”, c270 Anthony begins his life as a hermit

Palestinian/Israeli History
BC
600,000-10,000 Palleolithic and Mesolithlic period. Earliest human remains in the area (found south of the Lake of Tagariyyal, date back to 600,000BC), 10,000-5,000 Neolithic period. Establishment of settled agricultural communities, 5,000-3,000 Chalcolithic period. Copper & stone tools and artifacts from this period found near Jericho – Bi’r As-Sabi’ and the Dead Sea, 3,000-2,000 Early Bronze Age. Arrival and settlement of Canaanites (to 2,500BC), ca.1,260 Israelite conquest of Canaan, 965-928 King Solomon (Sulayman) construction of the temple in Jerusalem. In the very place the WAILING WALL still stands where the Jew prays..and on the SAME spot as athe Domeof the Rock (Islam). 721 Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel. 586 Judah defeated by Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, (Modern day Iraq, Babylon near Kuwait, and who Saddam always felt he was reincarnated from Nebuchadnezzar.) deportation of its population to Babylon and destruction of Solomon’s Temple, 539 Persians (IRAN) conquer Babylonia (Iraq) allowance of deportees to return and rebuild new temple. 333 Alexander the Great conquers Persia (Iran) and Palestine comes under the Greek rule. (Persia also called the Persian Empire now present day Iran who are Persian, not Arabs), 323 Alexander the Great dies, alternate rule by Ptolemies of Egypt and Seleucids of Syria. 165 Maccabees revolt against the Seleucid ruler (Antiochus Epiphanes-Greece) and estaglish an independent state. 63 Incorporation of Palestine into the Roman Empire. 37 It remained for Herod the Great to rebuild the wall of the Temple. 20–19 Herod’s Temple began (Using the 46 years of John 2:20) 4-5 Somewhere this time the birth and death of Jesus. He died several years prior to Herod who died after reigning 37 years. He arose in the 4th century. 4 Beginning of Jewish passover.

AD
70 Destruction of the 2nd Solomon’s Temple built by Herod by the Emperor Titus. 132-135 Suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt. The Jews were barred from Jerusalem and Emperor Hadrian builds a pagan city on its ruins. 330-638 Palestine under Bysantine rule, as Christianity spreads, more than 300 years AFTER Christ died. 638 Omar Ibn al-Khattaab enters Jerusalem and ends the Bysantine rule. 661-750 Palestine administered by the Umayyad Challiphs from Damascus and construct the Dome of the Rock (‘Ad al-Malik 6858705) and Al-Aqsa In its current shape (al-Walid, 705-725) Constructed right over the same spot as Solomon’s Temple (Dome of the Rock Revelations says is coming down when the Temple is rebuilt a 3rd time, hence the Arab/Jew battle for thousands of years.) 750-1258 Palestine administered from Baghdad by the Abasid caliphs (Iraq), 969 Palestine administered by the Fatimids from Egypt as rivals to Baghdad, 1071 Saljuqs (Originally from Isfahan) rule Jerusalem and parts of Palestine (officially still under Abbasids). 1099-1187 The Crusaders arrive and establish a “Latin Kingdom (Roman Catholics) of Jerusalem & drove and slaughtered the Arabs, 1187 Salah al-Dun al-Ayyoubi (from Kurdistan) conquers the crusadersin the battle of Hitfin, Kicks them back to Europe and frees Jerusalem. Palestine administered to from Cairo Egypt then. 1260 The Mamluks succeed the Ayyubis, continue to administer Palestine from Cairo and kick the Mongols in the battle of Ayn Jaluut near An-Nasira. 1291 The Mamluks (Khali bi Qalawuun) conquer the last crusader stronghold in Akka and Qisariya. 1516-1917 Palestine Incorporated into the Ottoman State (Ottoman Era) and administered from Istanbul (Turkey). 1832-1840 Mah’d AM Pasha (Egypt) rules Palestine, Ottomans take over afterwards. 1876-1877 First Palestinian deputie from Jerusalem attend the first Ottoman Parliament. 1878 First Zionist settlement (Petach Tiqva) established the guise of agricultural community. 1882-1903 First wave of Zionists (25,000 strong) enters Palestine as illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe. God gave that land to the Jews in Genesis when He took Abraham out of Ur (Iraq) and sent him to the land of milk and honey, Canaan, and they had lived all over since without a home. 1882 French Garon E de Rothschild starts backing Zionists activities in Palestine financially. 1887-1888 Ottomans divide Palestine into three districts, Jerusalem (follows Istanbul) Akka and Nablus (follow the willaya of Beirut (Lebanon).) 1907 Theodore Herzl a journalist from an Austro-Hungarian origin published Der Juenstgaat (The Jewish State) advocating the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine. 1896 JCA (Jewish Colonisation Association ) starts aiding Zionist settlements in Palestine.
1897 First Zionist congress in Switzerland issues the asle Program calling for a home for the Jewish people in Palestine and establishes the WZO (World Zionist Organization) 1901 JNF (Jewish National Fund) set up by the 5th Zionist congress to acquire land (in Palestine) and make it “Jewish” % of 6%. 1909 First Zionist Kibbutz (collective farm) establishment of Tel Aviv north of Yaafa. 1914 World War I starts and then lataer World War II to 1945. 1922-1948 Jerusalem was under the League of Nations and Great Britain. 1947 After much devastation in the Jewish -Arab conflict, following the partition resolution when Jerusalem became internationalized, the Old City was left in the hands of the Jordan Kingdom, and the New Israel, much of which the Jewish quarter and wall of Solomons Temple had been destroyed, leaving the “Wailing Wall” becoming inaccessible to Islam. The armistice agreement of 1949
made a division between the STATE of Israel and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. 1950 Jerusalem became the seat of the Israel government but the city remained divided. The only connection being the Mandlbaum Gate, through which passage was restricted by both countries. Jerusalem still despite all, keeps the aspect of the Holy City. 1966 Jewish population was 164,000, the Aramaic 46,000. The presence of synagogues , churches, mosque’s, monasteries, witness go the universal importance of jerusalem, where various races and creeds mix. The seat of ecclesiastical authority for many faiths. And speaking of Gates, did you know when God closed that East Gate in the Old Testament it has remained closed now for over 2,000 years, lest God strike anyone dead who opens, before Jesus comes through it to set up HIS Kingdom and rule over earth, in our first peace! When God closes, no man shall open!

Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 was born in the land of UR which is modern day Iraq up north, where the Tigress and Euprates Rivers join. When his father, who made idols (which God hated ) for idolators, died God spoke to Abram. “Now the Lord had said unto Abram , get thee out of they country and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee; And I will make of thee a great nation, (ISRAEL) and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And God changed his name from Abram to Abraham. And God said, “I WILL BLESS THEM THAT BLESS THEE (US TIL NOW) AND CURSE HIM (Arab nations, Iran, Russia) THAT CURSE THEE, AND IN THEE SHALL ALL FAMILIES (TRIBES , GENEALOGY) OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED!”

Ur is the last living expression of the Capital of Sumer (Iraq) the earths FIRST great civilization, whose ruins lie a mile and a half to the west of old Mesopotamia, more than 5,000 years ago and things still have not changed that much or modernized. Ur though was a huge city then, the Ziggurat of Ur was a huge stairway that went up in idol worship to false Gods. The “ladder” in Jacobs dream may have referred, In early accounts to a ziggurat stairway. Genesis 28:12. But, the Arabs and the Jews have warred over there for thousands of years. God gave that land to the Jews..and that West Bank is Abraham, Isaak , Jacob, King Solomon, King David, and the King of all Kings, from the lineage of David , JESUS CHRIST, who will set up HIS Kingdom there again for the last time, once He comes through that locked East Gate.
Amen!